Urban Observatory

The aim of research in urban water management is to identify the relevant compound fluxes and the interaction between drainage network and ecosystem. This is the solid basis from where sustainable management approaches for the concerning environmental compartments can be developed. To gain that necessary information on at a high temporal resolution, the working group on Urban Hydrology of the Institute for Urban Water Management established an integrated monitoring network in the city area of Dresden. Compound fluxes in the sewers as well as the receiving waters are monitored with state of the art technologies to give detailed insights in complex runoff and discharge processes as well as on (stress) conditions in the adjacent streams.

The Urban Observatory consists of five measurement stations, mainly in the catchment of Lockwitzbach, a small stream in the city of Dresden. Two stations are located within the creek and two more in the sewer network (separate & combined sewers) discharging in the same creek during heavy rain events. The last station is located in a combined sewer close to the waste water treatment plant in Dresden-Kaditz and is mainly used for sampling campaigns to test and calibrate spectrometer probes. The concentration of oxygen, potassium, chloride, nitrate as well as bulk organic pollutants (COD, TOC, DOC, equivalent concentrations from spectrometer probes) pH, conductivity and discharge are being recorded every minute. Additional auto samplers are installed at the stations and can be triggered during events. Furthermore, water temperature and portable discharge meters are mounted in the stream and combined sewer overflows and storm water outlets. A list of the setup can be found here:

Recent research focuses on detecting the effects of the Urban Stream Syndrome on the investigated stream. Especially heavy rains are of main interested, as the high temporal and special variability of those events and their contribution to the urban discharge can be well tackled back with the network.